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Nevada withdrew efforts to fight for it’s gay-marriage ban in court. Utah is being supported by 11 states to reverse a lower-court ruling that overturned probation on same-sex weddings.
Nevada was upholding a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages that was a voter approved amendment. In 2012, a federal judge ruled that the state law didn’t violate the equal protection rights of eight same-sex couples that sued to overturn it. On Monday, the state dropped it’s defense of the ban in the U.S. Court of Appeals San Francisco.
Nevada Governor, Brian Sandoval said in an e-mail that “Based upon the advice of the attorney general’s office and their interpretation of relevant case law, it has become clear that this case is no longer defensible in court.”
Elected officials are taking sides after the U.S. Supreme Court left intact an order demolishing California’s ban on same-sex marriage. Gay marriage is now legal in 17 states. Lawsuits are starting to pile up in which advocates seek to expand recognition of marriage rights for gay couples.
According to lawyers in Nevada, the courts ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act established an “authoritative and relevant” precedent that discrimination against same-sex couples is unconstitutional.
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Dawn Sestito, a lawyer in Nevada said, Nevada’s withdrawal from the appeal won’t end the case because the plaintiffs still want the ban overturned. The ban is also defended by the Coalition Protection of Marriage, which intervened in the case.
Image Credit: la.times.com
